Special thanks to my good friend gummiente, who has helped with the graphics and route design.

Lead your fleet of jets across the globe in WC4J's airline management extravaganza. Plan ahead shrewdly for the summer season and establish flight routes while ensuring minimal expenses. It's a business of notoriously low profit margins; do you have what it takes to survive as a great magnet of the industry and conquer the air?

Requirements to PlayYou must be a premium member to join and play in this tournament.

You must have posted at least 100 legitimate posts on Conquer Club, as stated on your profile page, or, if you fail to meet this requirement, otherwise show a clear interest in the tournament., as determined by myself. This tournament requires consistent and effective player-organiser interaction through private messaging. You must be willing to do more than just play games in order to win. This requirement shows you are active in CC affairs, giving me more confidence in accepting you as a player who will take part actively.

You must have an attendance of at least 98% turns taken, as stated on your profile page.

The two above requirements are fluid, meaning that personal exceptions can be made, at my discretion, if a player has conducted himself well in previous tournaments, or if a player is just shy of the posting or attendance requirements. In general, however, these exceptions are rare.

When Joining, Include the Following!

A unique airline name

The starting hub airport you wish to start at: either Chicago, Hong Kong, or London.

A unique and appropriate airline logo

(you do not have to design it; a link to a picture will suffice.)

Select one of the color options from below.

Any form of violation of the Rules of Conquer Club found at http://www.conquerclub.com/public.php?mode=rules (including any approved withstanding rules, decisions, or judgments from the Multi Hunters and/or Cheating/Abuse Team) including, but not limited to, creating "multiple accounts", engaging in "secret diplomacy", "throwing games", and/or taking part in any form of collusion or actions taken to provide an unfair advantage to oneself, and/or to any other player in the tournament, that is against the spirit of sportsmanship may result in expulsion from the tournament. The organizer has full judgment in making these decisions and may employ assistance from the Multi Hunters or Cheating/Abuse Team in assessing a situation in which there is suspicion of cheating or rule violations.In other words: NO cheating Luckily, cheating is rare, as we have honest people here on CC . But just in case...

You will receive a private message confirming your entrance into the tournament after you post.

This tournament's structure is more similar to a board game or strategic game, rather than a traditional single-elimination or round-robin tournament. As a result, I am only taking 18 players because I expect these players to have a decent knowledge of the rules and also be willing to engage in private messaging to make tournament decisions, such as starting new airline routes, etc. You will have to do more than just play games. But that's the fun in it!

I am not playing in the tournament. I am here to calculate each airline's budget, including round-by-round revenue and expenses, and to generally monitor play according to the Rules. I am also here to answer all questions!

The Official Rules of Conquer Club AirlinesRandom.org will be used when randomness is needed.The tournament organiser has the final say on all issues connected to tournament and gameplay.

ALL games will have these settings:Standard Game TypeAutomatic Initial TroopsSequential Play OrderNuclear SpoilsChained Reinforcements

Special GameplayNo Trench WarfareNo Fog of War

24 Hour Round Length

Any settings that are made available by Conquer Club at any time during the existence of this post and throughout gameplay (until the tournament is complete) will NOT be included in any games in the tournament, because these settings were not present during the writing of these Rules.

Maps

The following maps are offered in this tournament. You have the ability to choose how frequently or infrequently you play on a certain map.

Each player represents an airline, and there are two possible victory conditions. The player that first achieves any of the following two is crowned champion of the tournament.

To Win:

Have established flights on all 14 routes at the end of a round, and earn at least $28 from your routes ($28 revenue; earnings, not amount of money) in one round of play (either the same round you acquire the 14th route, or in a later round).

*In the event that multiple airlines have established flights on all 14 routes at the end of the same round and earned at least $28 in revenue at the end of the same round, then the player whose airline earned more revenue will be crowned champion. In the event multiple players' airlines earned the same amount of revenue, then the player who won the most number of games in the tournament will be crowned champion. If multiple players have won the same number of games, then these drawn players will take part in a Standard game on the Classic map with the Conquer Club default settings (Automatic Deploy, Sequential Turn Order, Escalating Spoils, Chained Reinforcements, No Special Gameplay, No Rounds Limit). The winner of this Standard game will be crowned champion.

*In the unlikely event that all airlines in one round are forced to declare bankruptcy such that in the following round there would be no airlines in the tournament, then all those airlines that declared bankruptcy in that one, particular round only shall play in the following round with a budget of $10. All airlines will retain the routes that they owned in the round in which they declared bankruptcy.

The above ONLY applies in the rare case that ALL airlines still "alive" have less than $0.50 at the end of a round.

To Lose:

At the end of a round (after round calculations have been made), having $0 (or a negative amount of money) will result in bankruptcy and elimination from the tournament. In other words, at the end of each round, you must have at least $0.50.

Be irresponsible and not commit to the tournament and fail to show up for games. This also leads to bankruptcy.

An airline that declares bankruptcy will see all its routes removed from the map.

As indicated by the world map, each player chooses one of the three blue cities as their starting hub. The three options are Chicago, London, or Hong Kong. Players will indicate which starting hub they would like when they join.

There is a limit of 6 players that may join each hub; this will serve to space apart the airlines.

In order to prevent inactivity, your airline will lose $4 each turn if you have no established flight routes! Sitting by and waiting until other airlines fail is not permitted!

Just like in a board game, the tournament is divided into different rounds, and each player may perform ONLY ONE of two actions each round. Each player's choice will be declared at the start of each round, as discussed later in the Rules.

Establish 1 new flight route.

OR

Upgrade your fleet of aircraft.

Should the airline not wish to perform any of these actions, it may choose not to.

As manager of your airline, you have a large starting budget to work with: $25. Keep in mind, though, the airline business has numerous expenses. Flight routes are the only ways for your airline to make money.

Flight routes are flights from one airport to another that your airline maintains control of for the entire game (meaning you will play games for a flight route each round), unless you choose to sell the route.

Each turn, you may choose to expand your airline by establishing a new flight route, from one airport to another. In the case of your first turn, your first flight will take off from your starting hub airport.

Establishing a route costs $2 (payed immediately). You will incur round-by-round expenses for upkeep for every route you have. Keep this in mind as you expand your airline.

At the start of any round, you may cancel an unlimited number of flight routes, at an immediate cost of $1 per cancelled flight route.

You may not cancel a route if this results in breaking the chain that connects all your routes to your starting hub. In other words, you may not cancel a route if this results in you having two, unlinked, separate groups of routes.

All flight routes you establish must be connected to your starting hub through a chain of routes (as in chained reinforcements!).

For instance, if your starting hub is Hong Kong, you may only establish a flight to Vancouver, Cairns Metro, or Istanbul. If you choose to establish your first flight to San Francisco, then your second flight may only be established starting from Hong Kong or Vancouver. You may not arbitrarily begin a flight route from Chicago, for instance, if you have no route already connected to Chicago.

For each route you have established, you will play against each other player who also chose the same route, in 2 games. Thus we are representing the competition of airlines that are flying the same route between two airports.

In other words, the format is double round-robin (2 games against each of the opposing players).

You will play each player in 1, 2-player game on the map corresponding to the name of the origin airport, and 1, 2-player game on the map corresponding to the name of the destination airport.

Example: Red Airlines, Epsilon Airlines, Victory Air, and UtopiAir each have established flights on the NYC-Montreal route. As a result, each player will play a 1v1 game on NYC and a 1v1 game on Montreal, against each of the three opponents. Thus, each player will play 6 1v1 games.

Should there be an extremely large number of airlines all flying the same route (such as more than 9 airlines), I may choose to send games in increments, rather than at once, in order to reduce the intensity of a large game load on the players.

Summertime!Every 4 rounds, summer season kicks in, allowing airlines to make extra profits as a result of travelers going on vacation.Thus, Rounds 4, 8, 12, 16, etc. will be designated as summer months.

In those rounds designated as summer rounds, all place awards listed above increase by $1.

(Example, for a route with 4 or more airlines)

The player that won the most number of games earns $5 ("first place").

The player that won the second most number of games earns $3 ("second place": ignored in for routes with less than 4 players).

The player that won the third most number of games earns $2 ("third place").

*In the event that multiple players have won the same number of games and tied for certain places, then the amount of money to be earned for these respective places will be divided equally among the drawn players, rounding appropriately to the nearest half dollar as a result of calculations.

Example 1: Todd Airlines, Bill Airlines, and Sue Airlines, the only three airlines for the route, are all tied for first place. As a result, the amount of money to be earned is totaled, including not only the $3 to be earned from first place, but also the money to be earned for second place ($1). As a result, the $4 is divided into three shares of $1.33 each. Rounding to the nearest half dollar, each player receives $1.50.

Example 2: Ann Airlines and Kyle Airlines are tied for third place, in a route that has five airlines. As a result, the third place money available ($1) is divided in half. Both Ann and Kyle earn $0.50.

Over time, your airline's aircraft age, and with this aging comes increased expenses in maintaining the aircraft. As a result, one of your turn options is to upgrade your fleet. You'll want to resist the temptation of not renewing your fleet, or risk mounting expenses for every route that you own.

You may upgrade your fleet at the start of a round for $8 flat start-up cost.

At the end of Rounds 1 and 2 (or, the round you upgraded your fleet, and the next round), you will pay $0.50 in expenses for every established route that your airline owns.

At the end of Rounds 3 and 4, you will pay $1 in expenses for every established route that your airline owns.

At the end of Rounds 5 and 6, you will pay $2 in expenses for every established route that your airline owns.

At the end of Rounds 7 and 8, you will pay $3 in expenses for every established route that your airline owns.

At the end of Rounds 9 and 10, you will pay $5 in expenses for every established route that your airline owns.

In the subsequent two rounds, you will pay two additional dollars in expenses per route. This trend continues indefinitely until you have upgraded your fleet.Once you upgrade your fleet, your expenses will reset to Round 1 ($0.50), beginning with the same round you purchased the fleet.

Example 1:

Lorenzo has three routes established. At the end of Round 6, he has payed $6 in maintenance expenses ($2/route). He finds this intolerable, so at the start of Round 7 he upgrades his fleet for $8. Now, at the end of round 7, he will only pay $1.50 in expenses for the three routes ($0.50/route, Round 1 amount).

You may have realized that the style of this competition involves round-by-round communication between the organiser and the players. You don't really need to read everything below, but here is the by-the-book procedure on how a typical round will work.

A round officially commences once I have sent the first of the opening round messages.

The opening round message is a personalized message sent to the owner of each airline, providing a summary of the turn options, an overview of how many routes the airline is offering, the expense per route, and a review of the profit/loss margin from the previous route.

Each player must respond to this message indicating in some clear manner their turn option (either establish a new route, or upgrade the fleet) or their wish to not take any action.

I shall allow 72 hours from the start of the round for players to respond to this message. If a player does not respond, I will assume that the player chooses not establish a route or upgrade the fleet. This does NOT mean the player is removed from the tournament just because he doesn't respond. I'll just be confused

Next, I will update the list of all tournament games and flight routes, and may update the world map to show all routes of all airlines.

Following this, I will create all games for all routes.

Once all games are finished, I will update the world map and standings.

Finally, I will send each player a closing round message. Once I have sent the last closing round message, this signals the end of the round.

The closing round message is a personalized message sent to the owner of each airline, providing a summary of the profit/loss margin (as well as details on revenue and expenses) of the round, an announcement of how much money the airline has, and an announcement of the airline's bankruptcy or victory (if applicable).

The process then repeats with the next round.

The tournament organiser may choose to revise this process at his discretion.

The organiser has full judgment in each case of a player not joining games.

Each player is guaranteed a minimum of three invites to each game. The organiser may choose to send additional invites to a player, at his discretion. The organiser shall begin sending messages to a player that has not yet joined a game after receiving two invites. If the player does not join his game after three invites (or, otherwise, after a number of invites as decided by the organiser):

The player in question is removed from the tournament, and any games that were to begin or did begin are considered unimportant and are disregarded for any standings or calculation purposes. It is as if the player simply did not exist.

When Joining, Include the Following!

A unique airline name

The starting hub airport you wish to start at: either Chicago, Hong Kong, or London.

At the start of the tournament, I will rank airlines by amount of money, since most airlines will have the same or close to the same number of routes.

Towards the later stages of the competition, however, I will rank airlines by number of routes they have. This will give you a good indication of how close you are and how close other airlines are to winning, as well as their financial situation.

Remember: you do NOT win automatically if you have 14 routes! You must earn a revenue (money earned from routes) of at least $28or more at the end of the same round you get the 14th route, or a later round!

You can also win by being the last surviving airline (all other airlines having declared bankruptcy).

Standings are updated once I send the opening message, as well as after play when I send the closing message. They will not be updated while games are being played in a round.

If you have questions, feel free to ask! It is my goal to have you understand as much as possible.

For instance, if your starting hub is Hong Kong, you may only establish a flight to San Francisco, Cairns Metro, or Istanbul. If you choose to establish your first flight to San Francisco, then your second flight may only be established starting from Hong Kong or San Francisco. You may not arbitrarily begin a flight route from Chicago, for instance, if you have no route already connected to Chicago.

According to your map, Hong Kong is not connected to San Francisco, but to Vancouver.

Good luck with the tournament.

Best regards.

([Suggestion] and btw, if I were you, I wouldn't make public the starting hub airport until this tournament really starts -ie, people should tell you that by PM when signing up. That's because, if it's public in the signing up phase, last sign up has an advantage as he would know which starting hub airport is the one with the less number of airlines, which would be by far the best option. And those who sign up the first ones, would be at a disadvantage due to that).

For instance, if your starting hub is Hong Kong, you may only establish a flight to San Francisco, Cairns Metro, or Istanbul. If you choose to establish your first flight to San Francisco, then your second flight may only be established starting from Hong Kong or San Francisco. You may not arbitrarily begin a flight route from Chicago, for instance, if you have no route already connected to Chicago.

According to your map, Hong Kong is not connected to San Francisco, but to Vancouver.

Good luck with the tournament.

Best regards.

([Suggestion] and btw, if I were you, I wouldn't make public the starting hub airport until this tournament really starts -ie, people should tell you that by PM when signing up. That's because, if it's public in the signing up phase, last sign up has an advantage as he would know which starting hub airport is the one with the less number of airlines, which would be by far the best option. And those who sign up the first ones, would be at a disadvantage due to that).

You're correct. I initally had the Hong Kong- San Francisco flight, but then switched it to Vancouver because San Francisco would have been too busy and too influential of an airport. The rules have been corrected.

Thanks for telling me about the hubs as well; I failed to clarify that there will be exactly 6 airlines at each of the 3 hubs. This will hopefully space apart the airlines.

Are you sure the maintenance costs aren't too high, though? It seems to me that with the seven dollars to be won per route, one cannot expect to win more than $2 per route on a regular basis. With maintenance costs hitting $2 in round 3, that means the best anyone can hope for (realistically) is to break even from round 3 onward. The only alternative will be to replace the fleet every six months, which is just as crushingly burdensome.

Also, could you provide actual examples of the colours, instead of just names?

Here's the main standings board. I'll be ranking the airlines at first by $, and then by the number of routes they have. This will make it easier to see who's dominating the air, rather than going through all the spoilers.